Cannabis factory uncovered (From Sutton Guardian)

Why don't we try taking a completely new approach to cannabis? In Britain, 30% of us use cannabis in our lifetime, three million people use it at least once per month and we consume more than three tonnes every day. The idea that we can prevent people using it is nonsense.

We waste billions every year on police, court and prison resources when a large proportion of society uses cannabis without any problem at all. In fact, the only real problem with cannabis is that it's illegal.

The risks to health are very small - much, much less than alcohol or tobacco. Professor Terrie Moffitt of the Institute of Psychiatry said recently that cannabis is "safe for over 18s". If we took responsibility and introduced a tax and regulate system we could protect children far more effectively than we do at present.

We could have a properly regulated supply chain with no criminals involved, no theft of electricity, no human trafficking, no destruction of property and disruption of neighbourhoods. Then there would be some control over this huge market. There would be thousands of new jobs, sales would be from licensed outlets to adults only with guaranteed quality and safety. Then our police could start going after some real wrongdoing instead of trying to fight a crime that exists only because of a misguided government policy.

Also, very importantly, science now proves that cannabis is one of the safest and most effective medicines for a wide range of conditions. While the government promotes the lie that "there is no medicinal value in cannabis", it has granted an unlawful monopoly to GW Pharmaceuticals to grow 20 tonnes a year for, you guessed it, medicine!

Cannabis Law Reform (CLEAR) published independent research last year that shows a cannabis tax and regulate policy would provide a boost to the UK economy of up to £9.3 billion pa as well as reducing all health and social harms.

The only thing that keeps the present absurd status quo in place is weak politicians corrupted by Big Booze and the GW Pharma monopoly.

Why are the police so keen to generalise cannabis as "drugs"; a "drugs factory", "drug related crime" etc?

This is cannabis. Are the police too stupid to differentiate between it and other drugs? Or do they want to sour cannabis with other drugs - drugs which do lead to drug related crime - so they can continue to justify the complete waste of police resources which is cannabis prohibition?

Heroin leads to related crime - robbing old grannies, selling their bodies etc. Alcohol leads to related crime as well - violence mostly with a fair smattering of other associated anti-social behaviour.

But cannabis? Where is the related crime there then? Is raiding your own fridge what the police talk about with cannabis related crimes?

Why do the police keep saying "drugs related crime" therefore when related crime from cannabis use is non-existent? Why would the police keep saying something which makes them look either stupid or corrupt?

Jack i agree 100%. Prohibiting cannabis is causing the crime, not the plant or the people who use it, its the people who sell it. The government have gifted the market to criminals by disallowing legal regulation. However, this is intentional as vested interested gets in the way of harm reduction. Why do they ignore the decriminalization experiment in Portugal, 10 years later we see a 50% drop in Drug use. Holland, where cannabis is openly available to adults, has the lowest hard drug use in Europe. Why is this being ignored? Greed, political cowardice, vested interest and personal prejudices. That is what our drugs policy is based on.

Paranoid old men keep
marijuana illegal and
make our children LESS safe.

Another local business that serves the community disappears. Great work plod.